Jason Perlow

Peter has provided us with the official press release - here it is, for download in Adobe Acrobat format: http://www.egullet.com/shared/hellskitchen-gordonramsay.pdf

Well, I've been told I have no taste (laugh) but tehina/tahini is a very strong flavor. Its fascinating that Greek, Turkish and other arab/middle eastern cuisines share many similarities, but its the minor tweaks and differences in shared dishes between the countries that make it so interesting. For the most part a lot of Greek food can be attributed to their centuries of conflict with the Ottoman Turkish and prior to that the Persian empire, but they have some food items or combinations of ingredients that make up dishes that the other countries don't have at all.

I can't imagine Hummus without tahini (and the required hit of paprika or chile powder). It would make for a pretty bland dish, I would imagine. I've had Revithosalata at Greek restaurants in the NY/NJ area, but it tasted exactly like Hummus with tahini in it. I wonder if thats because of the local clientele.

Interesting, so revithosalata (the greek version of Hummus) doesn't have tehini in it either? I always thought it was a critical component of the dish.

We should have some announcements about rectifying this situation within a few weeks.

This sounds like a regular French baguette. --spelling edit --i don't understand that recipe. Actually, this sounds like the stuff they put Po-Boys on in Louisiana.

As I understand it though, the original dish was Babaghanouj, and Melitzanasalata was the derivative after it was introduced into Greece by the Turkish (that along with Hummus, or Revithosalata) along with lots of other kinds of Mezze.

How is it different than Baba Ghanouj? I thought it was the same thing. http://recipes.egullet.com/recipes/r1104.html Here is a Melitzanasalata from a Vegan web site: http://www.vegan-food.net/index.cgi?147 EDIT: Prime difference appears to be absence of Tehini, which is common to middle eastern preparations of the dish.

Pistachios. The really big natural ones, lightly salted Macadamias: The big ones that are naturally dry roasted Marcona Almonds, fried in olive oil.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with using canned tomatoes. In fact, I vastly prefer them to fresh on a pizza. Some of the best pizzas on this planet are made with canned tomatoes. The best canned tomatoes by far come from Italy, such as San Marzano, but even the Redpack stuff isn't bad for making pizza. I happen to really like Kinchleys, personally.

Actually the name of that place is pronounced "MOO-LOTS"

BTW: In regards to the virus alert people received earlier -- I received this email today from SLAMMED's web developer: eGullet currently uses Linux, so I applaud SLAMMED for going the Open Source route as well.

I stopped by at DQ today and had a MooLatte -- its quite good, actually -- basically a coffee flavored version of the Mr. Misty Freeze, which is soft serve vanilla blended with ice slush and coffee-flavored syrup -- similar in flavor profile to other frozen cappuccino type drinks, such as the one served by Dunkin Donuts which was launched a few years ago. DQ has obviously thrown a lot of money behind this product because it comes in a special clear MooLatte logo cup and they have promotional materials all over the DQ for it. Not sure if they synthesized their own coffee syrup or if they are getting an existing formula from a commercial supplier. When I asked the kid who was making the drink if he was aware of the racial implications of the name, he had no idea until I explained to him that it sounded similar to a hispanic term meaning half white and half black. BTW, there's a good WikiPedia entry on the word here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mulatto The Moolate comes in several flavors, including Cappucino (cinnamon on top), Mocha (chocolate sauce on top) and Vanilla (vanilla flavor added). I think if they want to hit the hispanic population with it, such as the Puerto Rican, Dominican and Cuban communities who are least likely to take offense with the term Mulatto and to put a positive spin on the connotation, then they should offer a Dulce de Leche flavor (pour caramel sauce over the whipped cream at the top)

Excellent. I was starting to think that we were running out of reality show chefs to ridicule on this site now that The Restaurant is over. For the record, Ramsay has no love for eG. Good. It will make it so much easier.

Jon, have you seen what Aunt Jemima looks like lately? She looks like one of those professional working moms now. She could be an attorney or something. http://scoop.diamondgalleries.com/scoop_ar...?ai=1353&si=126

Even better than Cabrales in my opinion is Valdeón, which is a simliar super-stinky super-pungent Spanish blue cheese that is wrapped in chestnut leaves. Artisinal in NYC carries it, and as I understand it only came into this country in the last year or so. Yeah, I know, its expensive as hell.

Had a bagel yesterday for lunch with creamed cheese, yellow tomato, bermuda onion and basil for the first time. Great combo.

You need to order the pie at Kinchley's "Fra Diavolo" which has a zingier sauce. Typically we also order the pies there with garlic in addition to whatever other topping we put on it. Bacon is one of their best toppings as well, in addition to sausage.

See, if I didn't have any potatoes in the house, I would have stopped right there, ate something else, or went out and bought potatoes immediately. Pointless to make hash without potatoes.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...wcarb_survey_dc http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/...ining&track=rss Ouch. For what its worth, I like Pepsi Edge, but its very hard to find, and doesn't come in cans, which is my preferred medium for mainstream soda consumption these days.

Oricchette pasta with leeks, bacon and spinach in a tomato/cream vodka sauce, with basil chiffonade and parmesan cheese. No pics, sorry.

Strange, is this some sort of special test market 7-11?

Man I totally have a craving for one of those things now. The thing is, I've heard some hispanics proudly refer to themselves as Mulatto. I'm betting if you brought the drink to Spanish Harlem or East LA with Spanish language promotional materials and it becomes immensely popular with them there. Or the Cuban part of Miami or the Dominican part of the Bronx for that matter. Do ads for it on Univision/Channel 47. In Mexico, there's a candy called "Negrito" which actually has a African headhunter character on it that is actually very popular. http://www.candywrappermuseum.com/bimbo.html

Very cool, Ed!

actually they are more like the size of pearls.